


Sunday Morning

by mcgarrygirl78



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Family, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-29
Updated: 2015-09-29
Packaged: 2018-04-23 21:43:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4893400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He could see in her face how bad she wanted to give him hell and relished the fact that she couldn’t.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sunday Morning

**Author's Note:**

> Hey barsonaddict, this one is for you. I thought a sequel might be fun but I can't always write one. This time I think I did OK.

Rafael did a couple of bounces on the balls of his feet. He stretched his arms out, brought them back to his chest, and did it again. Then he made big circles with them. He picked up both of his daughters in a fierce display of strength that he was sure would hurt later. He did the secret father-son handshake with Noah to show dexterity. His wife watched all this from the kitchen table while enjoying her second cup of coffee. 

It was Sunday morning, raining and chilly out. Sunday was family day and the Barbas would play board games, see movies, go to Abuelita’s house for big dinners, or take Manhattan by storm. Before any of that though, they always had a family brunch. When the kids were smaller it was Mass and then brunch. Olivia didn’t follow any particular religious doctrine and has baptized Noah Unitarian. 

Rafael was a lapsed Catholic, at best, but while they were very young there was something comforting about taking the kids to Mass. He didn’t know what, couldn’t explain it really, but he wanted to do it. Olivia supported him in that effort. She didn’t bat an eyelash when it slowly turned into Easter and Christmas, mostly at the insistence of her mother-in-law. Lucia didn’t want her grandbabies to burn in hell because of their loving, wonderful, but heathen parents. The couple learned a long time ago that 90% of things weren't worth bickering with Lucia about.

“I'm ready.” Rafael sat down at the kitchen table too.

“Are you sure?” Olivia asked. “Do you wanna take a run around the block to get your blood pumping? Perhaps do some military push-ups?”

“I sense you're making fun of me.”

“Never.”

“Hmm.” He made a face at her. “Alright guys, tell me who you think is going to win. Lay your quarters down next to mom or dad.”

“I can't believe we’re teaching our kids to make sports bets.”

“It’s good for their math skills.”

“I'm putting my quarter on Mommy.” Lucia placed her quarter beside Olivia’s coffee cup.

“Me too.” Hope did the same. “Sorry, Daddy.”

“It’s OK, mi dulce.” He kissed her nose. “You’ve only gone down to my third favorite now, everything will be fine.”

Hope laughed. She knew how much her father adored her and never had to worry that she would be his third favorite anything. It was easy to tell what mood dad was in by the tone of his voice, he joked and played with them so often. He was serious sometimes too though never mean. She was only six years old but already adored him to the moon and back.

“What about you, Noah?” Olivia asked. She was holding her coffee cup on one hand and using a stress ball in the other.

“I'm putting 50 cents on you, Mom…and 50 cents on dad. That way I don’t lose anything.”

“You're brilliant.” Rafael smiled. “I think I taught him that, always go with the fail safe.”

“Yes honey, I've seemingly taught none of them anything.”

“Less talking more wrestling. C'mon,” he did the motion with his hand. “Are you ready?”

“Are you?” Olivia got into position. 

Noah put his hand on top of his parents’. He laid out the rules, which included no funny dad faces and no smack talking by mom. Rafael reinforced the no smack talking rule and Olivia rolled her eyes.

“On your mark, get set, go!” Noah released their hands.

In 15 seconds Olivia had pinned him. The girls cheered while Rafael cleared his throat. Noah put his hand on his dad’s shoulder.

“I wasn’t quite ready.” Rafael said. “I wasn’t ready but I'm going to take the loss because it was fair and square. Let that be a lesson to you kids, always be ready. OK, c'mon, I think I got this.”

“Are you sure?”

“Hey, wife, no smack talking?”

“That’s smack talking?” Olivia raised her eyebrow.

“I got this.” He put his arm in the ready position.

“You ready, Dad?” Noah asked.

“I am ready…I am so ready.”

“OK. On your mark, get set, go!”

Rafael held firm. First he just wanted to make sure that he wasn’t taken down, then he slowly started working on his offense. Olivia was strong as hell, not that he didn’t know that, but he wasn’t going down without a fight. He could see in her face how bad she wanted to give him hell and relished the fact that she couldn’t.

“C'mon mom, take him out!” Lucia exclaimed.

Olivia looked at her daughter and smiled. She was going to have to put a little more force behind it if she wanted to win this match. Rafael was coming back strong, really strong. But win or lose, the plan was to tire him out. She already had one win under her belt. She pushed back, forcing their arms closer to the center again. He was straining some but wasn’t trying to go there. How long could she hold off his best efforts?

“Yes! Yes!” he jumped up and pumped his fist when Olivia’s arm hit the table. “That right there is how you do it. High five!” 

Rafael high fived Noah and then winked at his wife. He wouldn’t do the victory dance, they didn’t really need to go there. It was tied now so there was still a chance to win or lose. One would be very stupid to ever count Olivia Benson out.

“I need a two minute break.” Olivia said, rubbing her wrist.

“Are you alright?” he immediately went from triumph to concern.

“I'm fine.” She smiled. “I need to use the potty.”

“Potty, Mom?” Noah looked at her with the look that his mother always called the look. 

“At school we have to call it the girl’s room.” Lucia said.

“Fine, I'm going to the girl’s room.” She stood up from the table. “You guys stay down here and watch dad.”

“Who do you think will win, Daddy?” Hope asked after her mother walked away.

“Mom is very, very tough, and she is a worthy opponent.” Rafael replied. “In the end I will most likely take her down but it won't be because she didn’t try her absolute best.”

“I think it’ll be mommy.” Lucia said. Her voice was so nonchalant in her assumed correctness; she sounded just like her namesake.

Noah just shook his head and laughed. His little sisters were so funny to him. They were fraternal twins and had very little in common. Both could be boisterous and pretty much always wanted to be right, but that was where the similarities ended. 

Most people at school never even realized they were twins because they were so different. They made growing up for him an almost daily adventure. A lot of his classmates has little siblings and didn’t like them. While the twins has their moments, Noah was a happy big brother.

“OK, let’s do this.” Olivia came back downstairs with a pep in her step. She stretched out her arms and flexed her fingers before sitting back at the kitchen table.

“You sure you're ready?’ Rafael asked.

“I'm ready. Loser makes brunch.”

“Oh you're on.”

They slapped their hands together and Noah put his on top. Rafael moved his neck from side to side. He actually hated tiebreakers but it had to be done. When Noah lifted his hand, Rafael put a lot of pressure on Olivia’s palm. He didn’t want to have to fight back from a deficit. But there wasn’t a need to worry. She planted her center of gravity and then planted his arm on the table. It was over in a matter of moments; he couldn’t say he wasn’t ready like the first match.

“Yay Mommy!” the twins cheered.

“Sorry Dad.” Noah said.

“No need to apologize.” Rafael smiled. “Your mom won fair and square. Good match, Lieutenant.”

“You're always a worthy opponent, Counselor.” She held out her hand so he could shake it, smiling when he kissed it instead.

“Mommy and Daddy, sitting in a tree,” Hope sang. “K-I-S-S-I-N-G!”

“That’s not a kiss.” Rafael got up from the chair. He took Olivia’s hand again, pulled her into his arms and then dipped her. “This is a kiss.”

Olivia wrapped her arms tighter around him, coaxing his lips open with her tongue. He smiled but pulled away and stood her up. There were little ones in the room after all. She kissed his cheek.

“OK, do you guys want pancakes or French toast?” Olivia asked.

“French toast!” all three kids exclaimed.

“Scatter munchkins, Dad is going to do all the hard work and I’ll call you when it’s time to set the table and eat.”

“Can we watch Doc McStuffins on the laptop?” Lucia asked.

“Yes.” Olivia nodded. “No fighting over it and keep the volume down. I swear you're both going to need hearing aids before second grade.”

They ran out of the room without another word. Noah scooped up the quarters from the kitchen table. He put them in the change jar on the counter. That’s where they usually got their money for honey buns before school or pretzels at lunchtime.

“So the big decision has been made.” Rafael smiled at him as he grabbed milk and eggs from the refrigerator. “You know what you're going to do now, buddy?”

“Well I think I do but I still wanna think about it a little more.” Noah said.

“Just remember that Dad and I love and support you no matter what. Your name, every part of it, will always be yours. Choosing to omit a name or two doesn’t make it disappear.”

“I think I'm going to go with Porter. I know how much my original mom loved me and I want to keep her name but it’s kinda like a middle name and most kids don’t tell everyone what their middle name is on their homework sheets. So I won't write Porter and I can just be Noah Benson-Barba. Is that an OK idea?”

“I think it’s an OK idea.” Rafael said. He looked to his wife and Olivia nodded.

“Cool.” Noah smiled. “The arm wrestling was awesome though, Dad.”

“I told you it would be.”

“Sorry you got creamed.”

“I didn’t see it coming but I plan to accept it and move on. Sportsmanship is all about grace, Noah, don’t forget that.”

“OK. I’m gonna do some drawing until brunch is ready.”

“Don’t you have some social studies to finish before tomorrow?” Olivia asked.

“I was going to do it after dinner.” He replied.

“Well you guys are going to Abuelita’s this afternoon so please pack it in your bag and do it there.”

“OK, Mom.”

“Dad is gonna check it before bed. I want you to work a little more on making your handwriting legible.”

“That’s what Mt. Levi says. I’ll work on it, I promise.”

He turned, jogging out of the kitchen and down the side hallway to the stairs. Liv went over to the counter where Rafael was dipping the bread for French toast. The griddle was heating up.

“You need any help, Counselor?”

“You can start on the eggs. That way everything will be cooked at close to the same time. I can put on the sausage after the French toast. Do we have any sausage; I didn’t see it when I opened the refrigerator.”

“It’s in the butter drawer.” Olivia replied. “Don’t even ask.”

“I won't.” Rafael shook his head. “The eggs are over here if you're looking for them. Also, the kids are going to my mother’s today?”

“She called me on Thursday and said she wanted her grandkids all weekend. The girls had ballet yesterday so I told her we could do it next weekend. She said she could take them on Sunday afternoon for some special abuelita time. I wasn’t about to argue.”

“Why, because you know you’d never win?” Rafael asked.

“No.” Olivia smirked as she brushed past him and took the carton of eggs. “I wasn’t arguing because I don’t know the last time I got an hour, much less a few of them, alone with my husband. It’s usually at 5:30 in the morning waking up early or 10 o’clock staying up late.”

“We’re getting old.” Rafael put four pieces of French toast on the griddle. “10 o’clock didn’t used to be staying up late.”

“I know right. But if I drop them off by 2 and don’t have to pick them up until 7, do you know how many hours it’ll be just the two of us?”

“Oh my god, we’re going to eat junk food in bed while watching shows we make fun of and intermittently napping in between.” He said.

“This is why I love you,” Olivia wrapped her arms around him from behind. She kissed the nape of his neck. “This is why I married you. Great minds think alike.”

“I love you too.” He turned to kiss her lips before she walked away. 

Rafael felt light on his feet as he cooked and hummed to himself. Family day was great; it was important to him to always make time to be a father to his kids. Still, there were times when he missed having their mother almost exclusively to himself. Sometimes when a couple became parents it redefined their relationship in ways they never intended. They lost touch with each other in the pursuit of being a good mom and dad. 

Both Rafael and Olivia had seen friends and colleagues divorce over the years. They would cite irreconcilable differences but then say they didn’t really know each other anymore. He wasn’t going to let that happen. Before all of this, there was Olivia. There was that small but comfortable loveseat where Noah’s toys always poked him in the butt. 

There was that first kiss in the rain. There were the confessions, the tears, the worries, the declarations, the promises, and the cold mornings where neither wanted to leave the other’s arms. Almost a decade later and he loved her even more now than he did then. Four hours hardly seemed like enough time but the couple had become experts in making the most out of whatever they had.

“Maybe after dropping the kids off,” Liv poured the eggs into a frying pan on the stove. “I can stop and get us some key lime pie for our afternoon in.”

“I'm not even going to tell you how turned on I am right now.”

She laughed and went about making breakfast. It would be good just to have some alone time this afternoon. They were so busy, always busy. Sometimes Olivia wondered how they slowed down enough to get married and have a family. At night when they fell into bed, usually together but sometimes apart, she felt such gratitude for their life. 

All the ups and downs life had handed her over the years, Olivia Benson had come out OK. She had a great job and three amazing kids. And she had Rafael. She had her brilliant, handsome, passionate, pain in the ass of a man. All of it was enough to make any woman feel like the luckiest in the world.

***


End file.
